Celebrating our Successes

There have been a lot of things to celebrate throughout the 2024/25 academic year. Some highlights include:

• Rewarding Co-op Heroes - we have continued to offer rewards such as iPads, bikes, cinema experiences, and trips out to Blackpool Pleasure Beach. 

• Enrichment opportunities such as the Girls Out Loud programme, university trips, First Story writing workshops, REACH careers project, Brilliant Club, Spelling Bee and many more.

• Our SEND provision has gone from strength to strength and the SEND Coffee Mornings have provided support for parents and carers of students with SEND.

• We have continued to be involved in the National Education Nature Parks project as part of our STEM extracurricular offer.

• Our Community Fridge has reduced food waste and provided a much-needed service for our local community.

• The Academy Theatre hosted our production of Matilda the Musical in February and more recently, the Trust production of Sweeney Todd.

• We recently achieved the Quality in Careers Standard award for our successful and thriving careers provision.

• Year 11 Prom took place in July. For the first time ever we invited parents and carers to join us at a drinks reception at school before we took Year 11 off to celebrate at the Stables in Bury.

• Whole Academy Sports Day took place at the Etihad Stadium this year, where hundreds of students competed to win medals.

• Culture Fun Day was a GREAT end to the academic year, bringing staff, students and the community together to celebrate the wonderful, diverse cultures that make up our local community.

Looking forward to the new academic year

Here are some reminders and updates for September 2025.

We originally planned to have one INSET day upon our return in September. Instead, there will now be two INSET days: Monday 1 September and Tuesday 2 September. This means we will welcome our new Year 7 and Year 11 students back to the academy on Wednesday 3 September at 8.20am for an 8.30am start. This has no impact upon the rest of the term dates already set out for the academic year ahead. 

On Thursday 4 September ALL students will attend the academy (they should arrive at 8.20am for an 8.30am start).

Many thanks to everyone who responded to the consultation on our academy day and the changes to term dates. The updated term dates for the academic year 2025/26 can be found on the academy website: https://www.manchester.coopacademies.co.uk/term-dates

Please take a moment to familiarise yourself with these dates; specifically, please note that the October half-term break has moved which means the academy will close after school on Friday 17 October and re-open on Monday 3 November 2025.

The new timings for the academy day, with a laser focus on guided reading during tutor time and an absolute commitment to enrichment opportunities, will be:

 

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday		Thursday
8:30 - 9:10	Form time	8:30 - 9:10	Form time
9:10 - 10:15	Period 1	9:10 - 10:10	Period 1
10:15 - 11:15	Period 2	10:10 - 11:05	Period 2
11:15 - 11:35	Break	11:05 - 11:25	Break
11:35 - 12:35	Period 3	11:25 - 12:20	Period 3
12:35 - 13:35	Period 4	12:20 - 13:15	Period 4
13:35 - 14:15	Lunch	13:15 - 13:55	Lunch
14:15 - 15:15	Period 5	13:55 - 14:50	Period 5

As you will remember, we have moved to this longer academy day to enable us to make several key changes including:

• Raising the time spent developing reading across the academy 

• Increasing the number of personal development and enrichment opportunities for students

• Reducing the number of transitions around the school building  

• Introducing KS3 PSHE as a discrete subject in its own right 

• Improving staff and student wellbeing  

We will be launching our GREAT Habits with students. These are aimed at developing good routines and autonomy that will help our students be ready for school and learning every day. The changes are highlighted below:

• All students must bring a bag to school that is big enough to fit an A4 book in.

• All students will be given a pencil case by the school at the start of the year with the necessary equipment in it. They must have this with them every day. Students are also welcome to bring their own. This includes a red pen, black pen, pencil and a ruler. 

• All students will be given a knowledge organiser (A4 folder) at the start of the year. They must have this with them every day.

A school bag, a full pencil case and a knowledge organiser will all be compulsory items from September. If students don’t bring the above items to school then a sanction will be issued. 

In addition, we wish to remind you that all forms of energy drinks are banned from the academy. The reason for this is that we care about the health of our students. These drinks  have a detrimental impact on students' concentration levels in lessons.

I would also like to remind you that, from September, students will have the option to wear black trousers OR a black pleated skirt with black tights of at least 40 denier. A number of other schools have moved towards a trouser only approach for all students but we believe it is important to give our students a choice. We do, however, encourage all students to take the option to wear trousers, as we believe they are more practical for all year round wear e.g. cooler in the summer.

We will write to you later in the summer with some further updates to our behaviour policy.

Finally, you will have all seen the letter from me regarding stepping down as Principal from the end of this academic year. Phill Quirk, Executive Headteacher, will be stepping in to lead the academy from September; Phill spent some time leading the academy in 2023. 

In addition, the new leadership structure includes three Vice Principals; joining us are Jade Nesfield and Kate Quinn who will work alongside Tracey Samuel and will bring strength and experience in their specialist areas to continue to drive the success of the school. I am excited to watch from afar and see the school develop and improve even further. 

Thank you once again for the support you have given me throughout my time at Co-op Academy Manchester. It has been a privilege to serve you as Principal and I wish you and your families a wonderful summer break. 

 

Allan Glover

Principal